In his decision, adjudicator Raffi Balmanoukian said the claimants consider themselves “poor jilted suitors,” led on and let down.

Balmanoukian put matters in poetic terms in a ruling released Tuesday.

“Starbucks takes the Dowsonian view that it has been faithful to Cynara in its fashion. Starbucks was not betrothed; it hadn’t even agreed to go steady,” Balmanoukian says.

He says while talks may have been encouraging, the claimants went ahead with work that was not required for the application, and they were aware that Starbucks head office had final say.

“It is unfortunate that the enthusiasm of the claimants for the venture morphed ‘a strong indication’ and discussions such as ‘there should be no problem’ into ‘we’re part of the Starbucks family’,” he wrote in the decision.